Holiday Madness
by marashaw21
Summary: (Post-Retribution) Mara and Noah spend a cute winter night out in the town before heading home. NONE OF THE CHARACTERS ARE MINE! They all belong to the talented Michelle Hodkin. *side note: this story forgets their powers and Jude and all of the havoc that was reeked.*


The snow fell down and landed on Mara's nose.

"Do you think Joseph will like this?" She asked pointing in a store window filled with trains.

"No, he's too classy for any of that kid crap."

She smiled. "I know, that's why finding both him and Daniel a gift for Christmas is so hard."

"What about me?" I teased.

"You're too easy, Shaw."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you are completely and madly in love with me. I could buy _you_ one of these trains and you'd hold it as if it were one of your most prized possessions."

I laughed at her comment. Our mittened hands had tangled together and we were walking down a hidden off street on the safe side of New York.

"I would treasure it as a prized possession, for a matter of fact. I would add it to my train collection back home in Miami."

She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand as if to hide the fact that she was laughing. "Noah, you are a piece of work."

"I'm not kidding, you know," I deadpanned. "I literally do have one."

She just shook her head. "You do not."

"I do."

"Okay, if you say so, but when we go back to our family's houses this holiday you are not bringing it back to our apartment."

"Damn, I was going to put it in a glass case and show it off for everybody to see."

Mara bent down suddenly and I thought she must have dropped her bags of presents for her mom and dad. But then I felt something cold whip my face and I realized she had thrown a snowball at me. I looked at her with an expression that was trying to be mad but ended up being a smile. She saw my devious grin and took off running at full speed.

"Come back here!" I shouted. I ran my hands through the snow and made busy sprinting after her and fumbling the ice into a haphazard sphere shape. I hit it right on her lower back. My long stride had made it easy to catch up to her, even though she was faster than expected.

"Noah Shaw," She shouted. "It went down my pants, you bastard."

"Oh, would you like me to get it out for you?" I asked all too seriously.

She hit me. It kinda hurt. "No, I can manage just fine."

"You sure? I think you'd enjoy it more if I was there to do the pleasure."

"You'd be the only one getting any pleasure." She spoke venomously.

"Harsh." I spoke putting my hand to my heart to act as if she had hurt my feelings.

She laughed and threw another snowball at me that I hadn't noticed was behind her back. I ran towards her and flipped her over my shoulder.

"Enough," I said. "Time for hot chocolate and cookies."

Mara was heavily breathing in my right ear. "At Mag's Cafe?"

"Of course."

"You can put me down then." Mara said.

"No, you'll throw another snowball at me again."

"No, I promise I won't. I'll keep my hands behind my back. I want to go to Mag's anyway."

I set her down but instead of clasping her hands behind her, I grabbed both of them and faced her so that I was walking backwards. She started to skip a little and her dark brown hair blew in the wind. She was so gorgeous. I pulled her into me and kissed her lips softly but when I pulled away she pulled me back so that our chests were pressed against each other and our noses were touching. Her arms wrapped around my neck and mine were on her slender hips. Her tongue parted my lips and her sweetness inescapably drew me in. When we parted she took my hand once more and we walked the next 2 blocks until we reached the cafe. I went up to the counter with my black card in hand and ordered 2 hot chocolates with whip cream and mint shots along with warm chocolate chip cookies.

The server looked up at me with a friendly smile. "For here or to go?"

"Here-" I began to say before Mare interrupted me.

She came over from looking at the dessert case. "To go, actually." She spoke.

I eyed her warily and she raised her eyebrows as if to say _why not?_

"To go, then." I said to the woman behind the counter.

When we got our bag of goodies we hurriedly made our way back to the loft because the temperature seemed to have dropped by 20 degrees and neither of us was partial to the cold. We made it inside and Mara immediately turned on the Christmas tree lights and started the fire place. I took both of our coats and set out a blanket on the floor. We nestled together cuddling into each other. Her head rested on my chest and my chin was perched on her damp hair. My guitar was next to the couch so I grabbed it and began strumming some tunes.

Mara took a drink of her hot chocolate and looked up at me. "Play me a Christmas song."

And so I did. I started playing and then eventually I sang some words.

 _Oh, there's no place like_

 _Home for the holidays,_

 _'Cause no matter how far away you roam_

 _When you pine for the sunshine_

 _Of a friendly face_

 _For the holidays, you can't beat_

 _Home, sweet home_

Mara had begun to fall asleep curled into my lap. I kissed her forehead gently and whispered in her ear, "You are my home, Mara."


End file.
